Thunder - He came with the name Corbin, but that just didn't fit him. I made a long list of names, and started rattling them off. When I said "Thunder", he pricked his ears up and came over to me. Ironically, thunder is his biggest fear (didn't know that when I picked the name).

Penny - She came with the name Tippy (ewww), and Penny was the first name that came to mind.

Scooter - John picked his name, John was just starting to get into buying and selling scooters and mopeds at the time.

Juno - John named her after the movie.

Emmy - I always said if I ever had a daughter I'd name her Emmali (Emily, just spelled different because I wanted Emma after my great grandma). I just decided to give the name to the puppy instead, but ended up just calling her Emmy instead of Emmali.

Katie, I named her that just because I was looking for something cute and girly, and it stuck

Sam, he was originally named Luke (Bo and Luke, from the Dukes of Hazzard) however after using the name for weeks, he never responded to it and it really didn't fit him at all. So I began looking for a new name, and decided on Sam. It seemed to fit and he began responding to the name very quickly.

Blue, he was adopted from a vet clinic that I've used for years and worked at before too. They owned him for 10 years as a rescue before I took him in, and they had originally named him Blue. They said he had blue eyes when he was a puppy, so they named him Blue and I, of course, kept the name.

Mattie (who is a lethal double dapple -- blind and mostly deaf), like Callie and Gracie, was used as a breeding MALE for 12 years(!!!) by a puppymill. They had his paperwork listing him as "Tiger". I wanted to name him something biblical and the book of Matthew is my favorite gospel. So I named him Matthew, and Mattie for short.

I named Callie by... well, kinda mistake. Callie was a breeding female for 5 years for a large-scale backyard breeder/puppymill before being given up. I work in rescue and took her in from another breeder who had taken her in from the original breeder. Her name was Kalulah (like the alcoholic drink) on the CKC paperwork and when I brought her to the vet that same day I picked her up, they needed a name to put in the computer. I said, "well her name is Kalulah, so just put Callie for short because I don't know how to spell Kalulah." However, I grew to like the name Callie and just kept it.

Gracie was the same as Callie, she was used by the same large-scale backyard breeder/puppymill as a breeding female for 9 years, before being given to another breeder. I took her in from that breeder and I wanted to name her something pretty. I picked Grace, but call her Gracie as a nickname.

Audubon, when I got Audubon, I wanted to name her something that pertained to birds, since she is mostly a bird dog breed. I ended up naming her Audubon after the Audubon Bird Society here in Louisiana, and after the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.

Emmy, I couldn't decide for the life of me what to name her. A lot of people wanted to name her Emma, but I didn't like the name, and my vet and my friend (who works at the vet) both have dogs named Emma. Someone said how about Emmy, and I kept it.

Annie, well... I couldn't decide what to name her either. Several people wanted to name her Violet but she really didn't look like a violet. My mother finally suggested Annie, several people agreed, and I kept it. I really like her name.

Jake, he was originally named "jagger" after Mick Jagger by the perverted old lady that dumped him off and tried to have him killed. He was 9 years old at the time, and I needed a name that started with a "J" so he wouldn't be too confused with the name change. I decided on Jake and voila!

Triumph...well, Triumph has a painful and long story behind him, but I'll make it short and sweet. He was about 8 months old when someone shot him thru the neck, dumped him in a ditch, and left him for dead. He was nearly dead a week later when someone discovered his body in the ditch and brought him to the clinic where I worked. After a month and barely pulling thru, he made it and was able to come home with me. He "Triumphed" over all the odds, so I named him Triumph. It seemed to fit.

Walker was around 8 weeks (i think) when we got him and his name was Harvey at animal control. Uhhhhh No i hate that name. So Ii was going to name him Colby after J.P. Colby the famous APBT man. No one went for that, or any other name so finally I was just like FINE what about Walker since he was part Treeing Walker Hound and it stuck.

Bodhi..... Always liked the name, and was going for a little boy (who to this day I wonder where he is) and picked Bodie.

Being of the floaty head in the clouds type anyway, I liked unusual names, and names that mean something, and looked at Buddhist names and found Bodhi (I am not religious, or Buddhist, but I love the meaning).

Bodhi is the opposite of ignorance. A consummate insight into reality which destroys mental afflictions and brings peace.

Voila. Bodhi was born.

Oh, and why did I take her and not the boy?

She picked me of course.

__________________

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They do not know jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing wasn't boring, it was peace."

Bodhi is the opposite of ignorance, the insight into reality which destroys mental afflictions and brings peace.

Kassie's is short for Kassidy. I shortened it to Kassie, my son was young and into Winnie the Pooh at the time and she reminded me of Kassie, or Kessie, the little bird in the story so that's how it came about. She also goes by, or understands her name as CeCe and KasKas.

Boomer's reg named is Hershey Boo Boo Bear. I told my son he was the one picking out this dog's name and he wanted to call him Broomer.....don't know why. lol I was able to convince him to Boomer, it was closer. Hershey Boo Boo Bear was to the fact he was brown like Chocolate when we first got him and that he looked like a little bear. He also goes by, or understands his name as BooBoo, Boo, or BooBear.

Tilly came to use with that name when we adopted her at 6yrs old. It's fitting so we kept it. She also goes by, or understands her name as Till Till.

Sawyer was named "Poncho" with Aussie REscue, which didn't fit him at all. I'm a huge Mark Twain fan and I had a feeling that this dog, who's coat reminds me of blue jeans, was going to be a good-hearted trouble-maker and I was right. So contrary to popular belief, he is named for Tom Sawyer and not Sawyer Brown or Sawyer from "Lost". He was almost named "Remy" for Gambit from X-Men, but Sawyer just fit better.

Virgo came named from the shelter and since I can't stand popular names and she was going to my grandmother's soon anyway, I kept it. She was renamed "Molly" by my grandmother and then again by the family I rehomed her too after my grandmother fell ill. When she came back, my friend/now-roommie had a dog named Molly and I kind of hate that name because *every* dog is named Molly it seems, so she went back to Virgo.